


Crush (on) You

by Bearixt



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Unresolved Plot TBH, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23944552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearixt/pseuds/Bearixt
Summary: The common denominator that Banri can see is his defeat, but it doesn’t make sense. They played a lot of games before, and they had their share of wins and losses. What makes some of Itaru’s wins different from the others?And isn’t it more usual to be mad when you lose, not when you win?-Five times Banri loses to Itaru, and one time he doesn’t (or does he?).
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru & Settsu Banri, Chigasaki Itaru/Settsu Banri
Comments: 19
Kudos: 81





	Crush (on) You

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't believe the BanIta draught in Ao3, and we are all just waiting for ONE (1) fic to update.
> 
> So, you know what they say. Be the change you wish to see in the world. *cracks knuckles*
> 
> Thank you to Chin for the help with descriptions! And much thanks to Nikki for the cheer and beta! May you be blessed in Sky Pirates and Ginji. 🙏
> 
>  **Spoilers for Gamer Showdown at Dawn (Itaru & Banri's Cross-Backstage).** The first part is set during and directly after that story. 🦊🎮

**One.**

“Agh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” 

For every curse that Banri says, the buttons of his controller get pushed at least five times. But it’s no use; his HP is still going down at an increasing speed, and he can’t do anything about it.

Not when his character flies after being roundhouse kicked, and definitely not when Itaru starts a series of onslaughts on the poor fellow who is _still_ in the air.

Itaru hums. “Nice knowing you.”

Banri groans and takes a glance at Itaru beside him on the floor. He sees him lean forward, face contorted into a broad grin and a terrifying glint in his eyes.

“Is this the finishing blow?!” Taichi says, making Banri turn his attention back to the screen. Fuck, about seven bars of HP left. This is just gonna take two more hits and—

Banri stares at his reflection in the television. Did it just—?

“What?!” He hears Kazunari say, followed by a “The screen went black!” from Taichi.

“Hey!” Itaru barks out. “Who the hell unplugged it?!”

Whoever it is, they’re gonna get killed.

“Meow.”

“… Hey,” Hisoka says, coming from the courtyard. “You can’t be in here. C’mere.” In quick movements, he grabs something from behind the television and promptly disappears.

“A cat…” Banri shakes his head in amusement.

“Can’t believe a cat reset the game!” Kazunari says, mirroring Banri’s thoughts. He half-expected it to be Sakyo or something.

Itaru groans. “You’re friggin’ kidding me…”

“Guess it happens sometimes,” Banri says in a placating voice. “Let’s call it a tie, then.”

“You look way too damn happy about this.”

“I’m not. I’m super disappointed we didn’t finish the battle. Crying, really.” Half an hour of pressing the buttons of a shitty controller? Pffft. Right.

“Liar.”

Banri grins at the thunderous look Itaru gives him. He opens his mouth to reply, but Kazunari beats him to it.

“Let’s continue this after dinner!”

“I’m starving!” Taichi nods his head in agreement.

Banri shrugs and places the controller on the floor, but Itaru growls and picks it up to shove it to his chest.

“Gimme one more round,” he says.

“Geh.”

“Enough already, Itaroon, Setzer!”

“Once they get going, it never stops!”

Banri shrugs and makes a shooing motion at the two, watching Itaru stand up to plug the television again. “Go eat. Lemme finish one round or this guy won’t be satisfied.”

“Damn yeah, I won’t. Not when I was about to beat your ass.”

Well, Itaru _was_ about to beat him, and wasn’t that fun? There’s someone out there that can make the boring, easy games actually interesting and worthwhile.

They play the game again, and Banri’s aching finger joints tell him that they’re taking even way longer than the previous one. There seems to be a larger audience, too. He doesn’t dare to take his eyes off the screen, but he can hear more than Kazunari’s and Taichi’s voices this time.

At one point, Omi mentions that they have beef bulalo and buttered chicken for dinner, but neither of them responds.

It’s best of three, and they both have one win each. Banri’s getting used to the shitty controller, and he already figured out a combo that should ensure his character won’t fly in the air again, no matter the counter-attack Itaru will throw at him.

He goes in for the kill. Dash forward. Slide down. O X O X. Dash. Dash. Left punch. Right punch. Right kick. Aaaaand □ → △ △ → ← X O ← ← O △ △

Heh. That should do the trick.

Wait. “What the hell?!” Banri aggressively pushes the buttons, leaning the controller to the side and he _knows_ it does not have any effect and his thumbs are getting numb, but _how did Itaru’s character move behind him?!_

As if hearing his thoughts, Itaru says, “I still have a lot of aces up my sleeve. Who do you think I am?”

“Agh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” And for every curse he says, he’s losing a bar of HP and—

**PLAYER 2 - WIN**

“GG.”

Banri tosses the controller and leans back on his hands, exhaling as the others in the room start to clap and cheer.

It was hell, but it was _fun_ as _hell_. Damn Itaru-san and his amazing gaming skills.

“Of course it’s Itaru-san who can beat Ban-chan!” Taichi says as he approaches Itaru, who is straightening his back and stretching his arms upward.

Itaru shrugs. “Used to have a Super MES. I’m pretty familiar with this game.”

Banri also straightens up and faces Itaru, cheeks starting to hurt from all the grinning. “One more round? Bet your ass I can win the next one.”

“Mmm, yeah. You probably will. I hate you.”

Someone comments about their competitiveness, everyone laughs at Itaru’s exaggeration, and Sakyo arrives to talk their ears off about electric bills and whatsoever. Banri does not pay them any attention.

It was said so casually, and Itaru wasn’t even looking at him then, already on his phone to probably check one of his many other games.

But Banri noticed it.

The shift from sitting cross-legged to raising both knees, his feet and body pointed away from Banri, and the twitch of his index finger that he later on uses to scratch his ear.

There is some truth even in “exaggerations,” isn’t there?

The others disperse. Itaru stands up and starts walking on his way to the courtyard.

“Itaru-san?” Banri calls out.

He pauses and looks back at him. “What?”

“Not gonna eat dinner?”

“Nah. Not really hungry. Maybe later,” he says, tone noncommittal, before he walks away.

Banri goes to the kitchen and heats up the food Omi left them before sitting on the dining table and placing the bowl of bulalo in front of him. He… might’ve heated it a little too much. Entranced, he watches the steam with a hollow feeling in his stomach that doesn’t seem like something food can fill.

Every time he hears the sound of a door being opened, he straightens up. He greets the others that just arrived home, nods when someone grabs food from the fridge, but no one joins him on the table.

Moments later, when there’s no more steam, he stands up, grabs the bowl, finds a cover, and places it back in the fridge. 

Banri doesn’t feel like eating anymore.

.

.

.

**Two.**

Banri leans back and takes a swig from his soda bottle. Beside him, Itaru braces his arms against the railing as he fiddles with his phone. They just finished playing… eight? nine? rounds of Tekkem, and they decided to take a short break. 

Or, more like, Itaru got distracted after seeing a notif that his SP is full, and it’s boring fighting him when he is obviously not into it, so he let him do his thing first.

The mall’s pretty crowded, which is expected since it’s a weekend, and the arcade is no exception. When they arrived, they went straight to the back where the fighting games are placed, so Banri just notices an unfamiliar game near the entrance now. He nudges Itaru with his elbow.

"Hey, you know that one?" Banri asks.

Itaru turns his head around to check before going back to his phone. “A rhythm game.”

“Like XVDS?”

“Nope. Hard to explain. See it for yourself.”

“Bah. How long till you finish?”

“IDK. 5 mins?”

Banri throws his head back. “Can wait for you.”

“… Really, now?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Mhmm.”

Just then, Banri sees a group of teenagers come out of the arcade, smiling and playfully hitting each other. One of them stops walking to clutch his chest and sit down, the others circling him and laughing before joining the guy on the floor. Two men pass them by, university students if Banri has to guess, and they are not as uncomposed as the teenagers, but they also have smiles on their faces.

Itaru stands up straight and pockets his phone. “Done. Let’s go.”

Banri grins as they go back in the arcade, heading straight to the unfamiliar game after throwing his empty bottle to the nearest trash can. _Teknik-A III_ , the marquee says. It has two screens, a monitor above and a play area instead of the usual control panel, both currently playing a short tutorial.

“Interesting,” Banri says, eyeing the unfamiliar letters under the title. “Korean game, huh?”

“Want me to play first and give you a demo?”

Banri shakes his head, steps up to the small platform, and enters the two tokens needed in the slot. “No need. Can do this in my first try.” He cracks his knuckles.

_Touch to Start_

There were five game modes. Star Mixing, Pop Mixing, Club Mixing, Crew Race, and Crew Challenge. Which one…?

“Pick Club Mixing. Last two are online. First two are boring.”

Banri obliges, and different sets of songs appear. He swipes across the screen, taking a look at them. Each set has six songs, and a set can have an _Easy Performance,_ a _Normal Performance,_ a _Hard Performance,_ a _Very Hard Performance,_ or a _Maniac Performance_ label.

“How many rounds? Three?”

“Yep.”

Naturally, he’s going for a Maniac one. He chooses the _Fatality_ set and randomly picks one of the songs, which are illustrated as vinyl records.

The game itself, divided into two screens, is pretty simple. Unlike the rhythm games he’s used to, he doesn’t need to tap notes when they fall on a horizontal line. Instead, the notes (which are circles and not rectangles) are placed all over the screen, and he needs to tap the note when the vertical line that moves along the upper and bottom halves of the screen crosses it.

He only had one miss in the first song, but that’s just because he didn’t know what to do when there was a different circle that he apparently had to tap more than once.

Maybe he should’ve checked the tutorial for at least the types of notes. Too late. Oh well, he’s him anyway.

He’s already used to the gameplay by the time he’s playing his second song, and when he’s finished, he receives an S+ rank. He turns to Itaru, who has his arms crossed as he looks at the screen above showing the songs selection page. When his gaze moves down and meets Banri’s eyes, he raises a brow.

Banri wiggles his eyebrows back at him. “Wanna see who can get a higher score in the third song?”

“Eh, sure.”

Banri furrows his brows. There’s something off with Itaru’s reply… Whatever. He’ll just amaze him with his score. He checks each of the remaining four songs, listening to the samples being played one by one. In the end, he chooses the song, _Night Talk Deceive._

The song, based on the preview, leans more on rock with the guitar riffs, but the hint of piano underneath also gives it a tender feel. He can’t understand the lyrics, but it’s cool. Really cool. He mentally takes note to search the song so he can listen to it better later.

Also, it’s level 12, the highest level from what he gathered. Which makes sense, Banri muses, when the screen is so fucking full of circles and the vertical line moves like a deer being chased by a lion.

Still, again, he’s him. Easy.

The song ends, and Banri waits for the score to show up.

 **_S+ Total Score:_ ** _10,196._

He grins and snaps a picture. He steps off the platform and makes a show of presenting it to Itaru, who only rolls his eyes.

“You really act like a kid sometimes. Oh, wait, aren’t you one?”

“Shut up and play.”

Itaru plays but not before sighing and grumbling under his breath as he places his bag on the floor. And, as Banri expected, he’s good at it. As long as Itaru knew the game, chances are he already played it before, and if he played it before, he’s _hella good_ at it. 

No, he’s a damn _monster._

It doesn’t even look like he’s putting in effort, which is a little annoying, but that’s fine. It’s the third song that counts. Banri crosses his arms and taps his foot, waiting for the last song.

After two S+, it’s finally time. Itaru hovers his finger over the record and pauses. “This is the song you chose, right?”

“You know what I picked.” Banri huffs. “Just play already.”

Banri played the same song a few minutes ago, but it’s interesting to see it from an outsider’s perspective. The number of circles is overwhelming, and it doesn’t look _possible_ to hit them all (which Banri did; full combo on his first try hell yeah), but Itaru does, hands moving deftly across the screen, tapping at the notes with speed and precision. He’s really good with his fingers.

An image flashed in Banri’s head and he chokes, turning his head away to cough a lung out. What the hell—?

He shakes his head to clear his mind, and that’s when he notices that he’s not the only one watching. They have attracted quite a crowd, who are… clapping? Someone whistles and mentions something about a perfect finish.

Banri turns his attention back to the screen above.

 **_S++_** **_Total Score:_ ** _12,000._

“What?! There’s an S++?!”

Itaru takes a photo of the screen as well before he turns around and smirks at him. “Looks like I won.”

“Oi, oi, oi,” Banri says, stalking toward him. “How the hell was that?”

He snatches Itaru’s phone and whips out his own to compare their results.

**_S+_ **

**_Max_ ** _923_ **_Cool_ ** _1_

 **_Good_ ** _0_ **_Break_ ** _0_

 **_Max Combo_ ** _924 (Full Combo!)_

 **_Total Score:_ ** _10,196_

**_S++_ **

**_Max_ ** _924_ **_Cool_ ** _0_

 **_Good_ ** _0_ **_Break_** _0_

 **_Max Combo_ ** _924 (Full Combo!)_

 **_Total Score:_ ** _12,000_

“It’s just one Cool difference?! Wait— no, that can’t be it. One Cool can’t give you 2k over me.”

Itaru picks up his bag and walks out of the arcade. “Time to go back,” he says. “Still gotta dungeon dive.”

Banri jogs after him and shoves Itaru’s phone back at him. “Oi, tell me. How did that happen?”

“Did you just look at the scores?” Itaru asks. “I guess the rhythm games you play don’t have them.”

“What? Fuck. Gimme your phone again.”

“You already used up your free trial of grabbing my phone today. Try again tomorrow.”

“Imma buy premium tokens.”

“Service not available.”

Banri rolls his eyes, yielding. “Can one Cool really have that big effect? There’s still something…” Or he’s just being a sore loser about it, ugh.

“You never tried to tap FEVER.”

“The what now?”

“FEVER. A small bar on the upper right corner during a game. If it’s full, tap it and get additional points for every circle.”

Banri stops walking and groans. “You didn’t tell me!”

“I offered to give you a demo first, didn’t I?” Itaru says with a smug grin, not stopping his pace, so Banri has to jog after him again. When he reaches him, Itaru continues, “Even if you knew about it, I think I’d still win. That one, at least.”

“And why’s that?”

“It’s my favorite song.”

Huh. “Really?”

“Yep.”

The walk back to the dorms is quiet, but the silence is not uncomfortable. Itaru is on his phone, occasionally mentioning a weapon or a skill and asking Banri’s opinion on strategies. Banri decides to use his data and goes online, too, searching for the song from earlier. Thinking back on it, guess the song does remind him of Itaru.

.

.

.

**Three.**

“This is getting boring,” Banri says, cutting Taichi’s cheer short.

“C’mon, Ban-chan!” Taichi says, vibrating on his seat and making the couch shake. “We’re killin’ it! This is, like, our fourth win in a row!”

“Exactly why it’s boring!” He throws both his arms over the couch’s backrest and huffs. They are in the lounge, enjoying their weekend with an online, 5v5 battle arena mobage. All their random fifth members have been so damn lucky; no matter how shitty they were, the four of them could carry their asses.

On the opposite couch, Citron nods. “I understand your pain, Banri. Perhaps it would be nice to play with ourselves?”

Banri stares at Citron. Then, he stares at Itaru beside him, waiting and _hoping_ for the translation, because that can’t be it.

“I think,” Itaru says, taking his time to say every syllable, “he means that we should play against each other.”

“Yes, that!” Citron nods with a smile, and Banri, like a goddamn VN protagonist, lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Taichi beams and the couch shakes some more. Banri’s eyebrow twitches. “That’s a good idea! Can’t group our two gamers together, so Ban-chan, team up with me!”

“We can play like we’re representatives of our troupes,” Itaru comments as he starts tapping at his phone. “Invite sent. Citron, let’s destroy them.”

After a few seconds of waiting for other players, it’s finally time to choose their heroes. Banri hums in approval. Looks like he got decent teammates; one of them chooses a tank, and the other, an assassin. Taichi chooses a mage he’s mastering. Banri goes for a marksman. Their last teammate chooses another mage.

Banri starts typing to tell the last guy to choose a fighter, but he deletes it and locks his pick instead. Will Itaru-san pick an assassin hero again?

He looks up. Citron has a frown on his face, and Itaru sounds like he’s murmuring strings of curses.

The loading page shows, and, well, that kinda explains it. Citron’s hero is a tank—Banri’s the tank most of the time when they play—and Itaru’s hero is a… support?

“Ooooh! Itaru-san, who’s that?” Taichi asks. One of their teammates is still at 2%. Tch. They better not disconnect in the middle of the game. “I haven’t seen him in all our plays before!”

“Someone who will beat you to the ground.”

Banri snorts. “Your hero’s so weak I can kill you in one combo.”

“No, no, I won’t let you!” Citron says, but Itaru doesn’t rise to the bait. He simply raises an eyebrow at him before he stands up and tells them that they’re going to the courtyard. Can’t discuss strategies with your enemies around, he says.

Citron makes good on his declaration; he really doesn’t let Banri kill Itaru. Banri has been keeping an eye out for him because despite what he said, he knows Itaru’s gonna end up becoming a badass support and gonna be hard to beat later on, but Citron’s not making it easy. They actually make a pretty good combo—or trio, if Banri’s gonna count the assassin that switches lanes every now and then to help them—that they have already taken down two of their turrets in mid lane while only losing one of theirs.

Itaru moves to top lane, but Citron stays in the middle. Banri debates going after him to kill him off, but he goes to bot lane instead after noticing that enemy monsters have already reached their third turret.

After he clears the wave, he checks what’s happening in top lane, switching his view using the map. Itaru’s defending their second turret against Taichi, who is finally learning to kite instead of blindly charging ahead. Good.

He returns his screen back to his hero, just in time to see the enemy assassin come out of the bushes and silence him for a few seconds. Shit. When he’s able to move again, he starts running back to their turret, focusing on killing the annoying little shit that is still following him while making sure he doesn’t die as well.

And apparently, that is all the distraction Itaru needs. His team, minus the assassin, gathers in mid lane and starts pushing.

Banri throws his second skill to finish the assassin and rushes to the mid, not elated at the **_GODLIKE_ ** that shows on the screen because fuck fuck fuck _fuck_. The clash is a mess, but no one’s dying yet. His SS will be available in a few seconds, so if they could just hold on a bit…

“Waaaaaaaaaa!” Taichi says as he raises his hands and taps at his phone, as if screaming louder will make his attack stronger. The couch violently shakes again.

Banri clicks his tongue. “Taichi, stop moving!”

“Eh?”

Taichi’s hero stops moving and fucking _dies and—_ “I meant IRL, not in the game!”

“Ehhhhhh?! Too late! I’m dead!”

A beat later, Banri’s hero dies as well.

**_Wiped Out!_ **

“Shit.”

“What was that?!” Taichi moans as he leans back on the couch. “It was like our attacks didn’t work! Their HP just kept on getting refilled!” He glances at his phone and screams. “They’re taking down the last turret! They’re gonna attack our base!”

“It’s not over yet!” Banri checks respawn time. It’s ok. They will all get revived just right after Itaru’s team takes down the last turret. His SS is available. Taichi’s SS is available. That’s one instant stun. He sends a quick chat, telling their assassin to go straight to the lord. They can take down the lord or at least scatter the enemies. They can still turn this around.

Itaru’s team is on their base now. Taichi’s hero respawns, and then Banri’s, and Taichi throws his SS and— hell yeah, it’s working! The ADC and tank are stunned, so Banri aggressively taps at his phone to kill the ADC. Once this guy’s killed, he can help the mage take Itaru down, because they’re really going nowhere with his OP healing. Their assassin gets out of the base successfully.

Epic comeback, here we go!

The hero he’s attacking finally dies, and he taps at Itaru’s hero to target him next and—

Something flickers on the upper left area of the screen. The map. Oh. _Oh._ Oh, no. No no no no. Shit _._ How did Banri forget?! All his skills are already in cooldown. _Shit._

The assassin from Itaru’s team appears, and, like a true god of death, kills them all one after another.

**_UNSTOPPABLE_ **

**_Wiped Out!_ **

Then, all the buttons disappear, only the video of their crumbling base remaining.

**_Defeat_ **

“GG ~” Itaru says as they re-enter the lounge and take their places on the couch.

“What a splendid game, everyone!” Citron says.

“Itaru-san, so cool!” Taichi says, dropping his phone on his lap to beam at him. “You really carried your team even if you didn’t have a single kill! So you can get MVP even if you’re just a support?”

“It’s not _just_ a support,” Itaru says, already holding his phone vertically, thumb wiping his screen upward. Surfing the forums, maybe? “There wasn’t just any decent support from our games earlier.”

“Aaaaaah, so cool!”

Itaru looks up and smiles. “Want me to teach you? You’re getting good at that mage. Won’t hurt to be good at playing other roles, too.”

“Oi, Itaru-san,” Banri chimes in. “Gimme tips on how to master that supp.”

The smile on the older’s face disappears, replaced with an almost blank expression that can pass off as surly if not for the slight upturn of his lips. “Don’t wanna.”

Banri narrows his eyes. What’s with this difference in reaction? Is Taichi his favorite person or something?

.

.

.

**Four.**

There’s a new mobage that Itaru is playing recently, and he seems so invested in it (both emotionally and financially) that Banri just had to download and see it for himself.

The game’s name is F3!, which stands for _Fierce! Fancy! Festive!_ or something. It’s a training, gacha game of theatre actresses. Feels a little meta, if you ask him.

Still, it’s easy to see why Itaru likes it. The characters are cute, sure, but situations that you can relate to, characters that you can actually sympathize with? Hell yeah, count Banri in. Not a rhythm game, too; Banri just needs to leave his phone alone during practices.

After a while, it became a little annoying not being able to do anything else with his phone during the practices, so Banri buys a new phone and transfers his data there. He doesn’t tell Itaru about it yet, waiting for the perfect opportunity to do so.

The opportunity came in the form of an event, just a few days later.

He checks the Event Ranking and sees a whale that is already at a million points. 1st Place, with an _Otsu ~_ username, can’t be anyone else except Itaru, right?

Banri grins. He quickly checks a few guides online, prepares the cards he needs for teams, and, with Sakuya’s help, pulls all the event cards from gacha, which are later on fully bloomed and trained. Then, he links his credit card.

With a _COMIN’_ username and _FOR YOU_ greeting, which appears below the username in the Ranking page, Banri starts to swim his way up.

When he’s in 2nd Place, only a few hundred thousand points behind, 1st Place changes their username to _GTFO_ and greeting to _vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv_. Banri changes his name to _SEE U_ and greeting to _UNDER ME_ in return.

The others on the first page join in too and change their names to different variations of “good luck” or “lol” or “UST,” whatever that last one means.

It’s a pretty close fight, but Banri can play even while in school, and he doubts Itaru has the same luxury at work. Before his classes end, on the last day of the event, Banri is at 1st Place with 15 million points.

Autumn Troupe has training that night, and it’s impossible to use his phone with Sakyo around. Still, Banri’s confident. The last time he checked, he’s still a million points ahead, and there are only four hours left before the event ends. Even Itaru can’t do miracles like that.

Itaru’s annoyed face during dinner as he taps at his phone makes Banri grin inside, and just for the hell of it, he invites him to play a game in the lounge. As he expected, Itaru refuses, saying that he has something important to do before retreating to his room.

Banri also goes to his room earlier than usual. The nonstop tiering for ten days, plus all the stunt training they did earlier, really drained him of his energy. He thinks he hears laughter in the next room, but it’s probably his exhaustion talking.

The next morning, Banri wakes up early for classes (he can’t believe he’s actually attending his first class now) and heads to the communal bath. He’s on his way back when he sees Itaru, already dressed up in his work clothes and on his phone, leave his room.

There are bags under his eyes, and he looks terrible that Banri feels a little bad, but, eh. The life of gamers. You win some, you lose some. Besides, not like Itaru looks any less attractive.

“Mornin’, Itaru-san,” he greets. “You look like shit. Didn’t sleep?”

“Had a good night’s sleep, actually. Just needed to crush someone.” He looks up at him, a smirk on his face. “Did you know that Sakuya’s luck also works on triggering Encores?”

Banri stares at him dumbly. _Was it Itaru-san and Sakuya he heard the night before—?_

“Time to be a corporate slave. Bye.”

Itaru walks away and Banri rushes to his room, ignoring Hyodo’s complaints about the noise, and scrambles to check his phone.

And there it is. His account, with his _EZ WIN_ username and _GGWP_ greeting. With his 15,548,827 points.

Second. Fucking. Place.

He glares at his phone, wondering if his mind is just playing tricks on him, but the page doesn’t change. He scrolls down, checks the other pages, reads all the other usernames and greetings obviously directed at him and _no fucking doubt_ Itaru.

Who is 1st Place. With their _Stay Down_ username and _Good Boy vvvvvv_ greeting. With his 15,947,825 points.

How the hell did that even happen?!

.

.

.

**Five.**

Deja vu. There’s some deja vu shit going on.

“I’m home,” Banri says after a while. Kazunari and Taichi turn around, finally noticing him, and welcomes him back.

“Setzer, nice timing! I just finished setting it up!”

Banri plops down on the couch and places his bag beside him. Taichi’s position on the floor in front of the television lets him know what’s going on. “Found another old console in the storage room?”

“Yep, yep!” Taichi says, imaginary tail wagging. “This one looks even older!”

The screen turns to life, and an old retro sound fills the room. A pixelated title appears, and underneath it are the game modes: Original, Maniac, and Ultra. Taichi grabs the sole controller and chooses Original.

“Oh,” Banri says as the game starts. “It’s a shmup.”

Kazunari, seated on the opposite couch, whistles. “Neat! Looks really old, but artsy! I like it! And Setzer can’t slam our charas to the ground this time!”

Banri looks at him and opens his mouth to reply, but a sad sound plays, and he turns to see a big YOU FAILED on the screen. That was fast.

“Waaah, so hard! That’s the easiest mode? Is it even possible to dodge all that?!”

The door opens, and Banri looks over to see Itaru by the doorframe. The older man pauses when he arrives at the lounge.

“... Deja vu. Did I accidentally load a save file?” he says, but he goes straight to the empty space on Taichi’s left, depositing his bag next to Banri. He loosens his tie and grins. “Another treasure from the dungeon?”

“Itaru-san! You try!” Taichi all but shoves the controller to him. “It’s raining bullets it’s sooooo crazy!”

“That so? Haven’t tried this one in ages, but…” Itaru proceeds to choose the Ultra Mode and… breezes through the first stage, as if the sheer number of bullets that filled the screen didn’t completely cover his character at one point and _how the hell_ did he even survive that? Insane. Pixel-perfect dodging. End score: 1895 gems.

“Itaroon, seriously, go pro! That’s so rad!”

“Too troublesome. I’d rather play all day in my own room.” Itaru leans on one hand and raises the controller, shaking it and looking at Banri with a raised eyebrow. “Now you know what to expect. Your turn.”

Banri stands up from the couch and Taichi scoots to the right, so there’s an empty space between him and Itaru. He sits down on the floor and grabs the controller from Itaru, their fingers brushing. Banri feels a shiver down his spine. Man, he’s really excited to play.

Game’s damn _intense,_ but Banri discovered how to avoid the rain of bullets from Itaru’s gameplay. Pushing the left button with his left thumb every second while pushing the circle button with his right thumb nonstop, he successfully passes the first wave.

He later realizes that there’s a spot in the corner that doesn’t get hit even if the purple bullets occupy the entire screen. Well, he has his question answered. You literally had to _glitch_ the game to survive. Too insane.

Banri finishes the entire stage without losing any of his lives… if he has more than one life. He didn’t really bother to check. Maybe he only had one since it’s Ultra mode? Whatever. It didn’t matter.

Still, his end score, 1608 gems, is lower than Itaru’s, but it’s just because he didn’t get all the boxes that randomly appeared.

“Setzer just finished that in one try. Way too amazing!”

“Soooooooo cool!”

“Heh.” Banri grins at them. “It’s easy, it’s easy. Didn’t beat high score though.” He turns his head to Itaru beside him and raises a brow challengingly.

“Nah. You’ll probably beat it if you try again now.”

There it is again. That damn tone. What is Itaru-san’s problem?

“Oi, Itaru-san, you—”

“I’m gonna change clothes,” Itaru says, standing up and loosening his tie some more. He grabs his bag from the couch and nods at them. “See ya.”

Banri frowns. He doesn’t get it. Sometimes, it’s like there’s a huge wall between them, and Itaru is so far away, so unreachable. But just when Banri thinks that he might’ve done something wrong and that maybe he’ll have to talk to him about it, Itaru will appear and make him play co-op with him, and they’re back to their usual.

The common denominator that Banri can see is his defeat, but it doesn’t make sense. They played a lot of games before, and they had their share of wins and losses. What makes some of Itaru’s wins different from the others?

And isn’t it more usual to be mad when you lose, not when you win?

“Bah!” Banri rakes his fingers through his hair, ignoring Taichi and Kazunari who flinch and, later on, ask questions. Itaru-san’s so frustrating!

.

.

.

.

.

**\+ One.**

They are in Itaru’s room, sitting on the floor alongside several empty soda bottles and pizza boxes, while they take a break after their seven-hours-straight campaign. On the table, plates of nori wraps and beef jerky that Omi prepared for them are almost empty.

“Hey, Itaru-san,” Banri says as he grabs a strip of meat and nibbles at it.

“What?”

As he expected, the other doesn’t take his eyes off his phone. With Itaru, there never truly is a “break.” Just switching from one game to the other. Oh yeah, did Itaru figure out that it’s Banri in 2nd Place in that other game? Banri never knew.

“Remember when you said you hate me?”

At that, Itaru looks up and stares at him, only to raise an eyebrow before going back to tapping at his phone. “You’re still going on about that? Told you it was nothing. Chill. As if you haven’t been trash talked before.”

Banri finishes the strip and wipes his hand on his pants before he raises a knee, leaning his elbow on it and placing his cheek on his fist. “That wasn’t just trash talk."

“You know, you can go back to your room now. I can finish it on my own, NP.”

Banri groans. “Itaru-san.”

The other waves his hand. “That, or shush. I’m gonna pull.”

“You sure? Not gonna ask Sakuya?” 

“I can ask him tomorrow if my wife doesn’t come home tonight.”

“Why waste money now if you have guaranteed luck tomorrow?”

“Banri, mute.”

“That doesn’t work like that IRL.”

Itaru doesn’t hear him, or pretends not to, and places his phone on his open palms, eyes closed as he mutters his prayers to RNGsus. Banri rolls his eyes when he notices that a _Tap to Continue_ is already on the screen.

“You know that’s preloaded, right?" Banri reaches over and taps at his phone.

Itaru’s eyes snap open and he moves his phone away, but the damage’s done. The curtain opens and a chibi sprite in silver plating appears. It starts backflipping and jumping, just like Banri’s heart because _holy shit_ Itaru’s glare is actually pretty scary when it’s directed at you.

“I wasn’t fuckin’ done yet, dipshit.”

Banri raises his hands. _Don’t shoot. I’m unarmed._ “C’mon, it’s preloaded anyway!”

Ignored, the sprite does another backflip and turns to gold.

“That’s not the point. Wanna die, you punk—”

Itaru blinks and looks at his phone, where a flash of dialogue appears and… damn.

“Shit. She’s home! From a solo yolo!”

He looks so happy, phone hoisted up in the air as a female voice says a line about a case, like he’s Rafiki presenting Simba to the kingdom or something.

“Looks like I can be your gacha god too,” Banri muses. “Wanna bet that I can solo yolo and get her again?”

“No thx.”

“But don’tcha wanna bloom her?”

“I’ll let Sakuya take care of it.”

“Told you I can do it,” Banri says before diving forward and grabbing the phone. He twists to the side, opening the scouting page again with his right hand and shoving Itaru away with his left.

“Give that back—”

“Hey, I still have my free trial for today, right?”

Itaru continues his feeble attempts at getting back his phone, spewing curses nonstop, but he’s so weak that Banri barely has to put in any effort to swat him. A little pathetic, really.

 _Use Gems_ **_x15_ ** _to hold_ **_1_ ** _Scout(s)?_

“Oi, don’t you dare—”

“You were prepared in case she didn’t come home earlier. This shouldn’t be a big deal.”

With a sudden burst of energy, Itaru manages to bring down Banri’s hand and makes a lunge at him. There’s a little too much energy that Banri didn’t expect and he falls on his back, Itaru hovering above him as he reaches for the phone.

But since when did Banri let himself be pinned down?

Uh-huh. Never.

He quickly maneuvers himself, and in the next second, he has Itaru under him, straddling his thighs with a knee, left hand pinning both of his wrists above him (skinny! too skinny!) and the other holding his phone. Itaru tries to wiggle his way out, but Banri just presses himself down harder.

_“The only case I can’t solve… is you.”_

They freeze.

A beat later, Banri throws his head back and laughs. “See! Told ya. I’m right. I win. Totally my win.”

“Yeah, whatever. What a stupid win.” The smile on his face betrays his sarcastic tone. He must be ecstatic, getting two lucky solo yolos like that. Heh. Itaru can just call Banri anytime. And if RNGsus isn’t on Banri’s side then, he has his credit card, nbd.

Also… Itaru should really smile more often. Genuine smiles like this, not the “you’re a noob and I’m gonna have fun destroying you” smiles. Ah, though those smiles have their own appeal, too, Banri supposes.

“Oi, Banri,” Itaru says, the same time Banri says, “Itaru-san.”

Itaru raises an eyebrow and tilts his head, signaling Banri to speak first.

“Why did you only dye the tips of your hair?” Banri asks, eyeing the bangs that he ties up. “Or did you dye your hair before and you’re just growing it out so you can cut it off?”

“… For real?”

“I’ll damn appreciate a true answer for this one at least, yeah.”

“No, I mean, you have me completely at your mercy, and that is what you ask?”

It took a while for Banri to realize their positions. All of a sudden, the skin under him is too hot, the atmosphere turns electric and terrifying, and he feels blood rushing to his face. Everything is far yet _clear_ , and he’s overly aware of his every minute movements, from his sharp inhale to the twitch of the fingers in his left hand.

“Oi. Can’t you pick already?”

“What?” he rasps, forcing the word out of his throat. What is Itaru-san—?

“You know. Normal End, Good End, Bad End.” Itaru flutters his eyelashes, pitch high as he says, “Raise my flags until you get to have all of me!” Then, face impassive and tone dull, he continues, “Or something.”

Banri’s brain short-circuits.

Itaru clicks his tongue and squirms. "K, this is getting awkward. Get off. And give me my phone.”

Like on autopilot, Banri removes his grip from Itaru’s wrists and moves away, barely noticing the pizza box that he was about to sit on until the last second. He can still feel the heat on his hand, _god_ the heat on his cheeks is still there too, and he tries to ignore how his gut clenches.

He _tries._

“We both know you can physically crush me, all right,” Itaru mumbles as he sits up. “Was a demonstration really necessary?”

Itaru crawls over to him and Banri’s breath hitches before Itaru plucks the phone that… oh, right, it is still on Banri’s hand. _Was_ on Banri’s hand. His mind is a mess, but—

“Itaru-san,” Banri blurts out.

“What?”

“… When you said you hate me—”

“That again? Aren’t you—”

“—did you mean it?”

Itaru looks at him, emotions flashing in his eyes too fast for Banri to decipher, like he’s searching him for something. Banri forces himself to sit still. Itaru sighs and averts his gaze, fiddling with his phone on his lap. Maybe he finds what he’s looking for, maybe he doesn’t.

After a short moment of silence, he finally looks back at Banri and answers. “No, Banri. I don’t hate you. I’m just a really shitty person sometimes. It’s not you. It’s me.” He snorts. “That is straight out of a drama. I’m getting the creeps.

“I was—” He shakes his head. “Nevermind. I don’t hate you, ok?” He reaches a hand out and abruptly pauses, hand awkwardly hovering a few inches away from Banri, before he pats him on the shoulder twice. “Continue being you.”

Itaru removes his hand and stretches his arms upward. “Break’s over. Back to the campaign,” he says as he stands up and walks to his PC. He plops himself down on his swivel chair, twisting his seat left and right as he shakes his mouse. The screen turns on, and he pulls another chair out.

Banri might’ve been staring at the back of Itaru’s chair longer than he thought, because when Itaru turns around, his expression promises painful death. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Banri mutters. He takes his seat and they continue their game, but he can’t concentrate. Not when he just reached an epiphany.

“Banri,” Itaru snaps after Banri’s character dies for the fourth time in a row. “If we lose here, I’m gonna crush you.”

 _And I have a dumb, stupid, actual crush on you_ , Banri wants to scream in reply. A goddamn _crush._

What the fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> What is Itaru thinking? I have no idea. I'm with Banri on this one. See? Unresolved plot. I'm sorry. ~~Maybe someday I'll make part 2 with Itaru POV, since, y'know, pre-slash tag is there for a reason. Don't trust me.~~
> 
> Games are based on true games (which you might have noticed from the A3! rip-off, pfft), but I had to change things up for plot reasons. The fifth game is really [insane](https://youtu.be/bf0xkLOlQqw).
> 
> Kudos and comments—short or long, coherent or incoherent, actual words or keyboard smashes—are much appreciated! I'm really not very confident about this one, so it would be nice to know if anyone liked it...? 🙈 If you reached this part though, thank you so much for reading!
> 
> twt: [@rinkaisha_](https://twitter.com/rinkaisha_) ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็ʕ•͡ᴥ•ʔ ก้้้้้้้้้้้


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